Xref: utzoo rec.games.video:2618 comp.sys.amiga:33089 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!ucbvax!pasteur!ames!hc!lll-winken!uunet!tektronix!tekig5!wayneck From: wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) Newsgroups: rec.games.video,comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga vs Sega Message-ID: <4123@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> Date: 1 May 89 19:57:07 GMT References: <2075@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> <40513@vax1.tcd.ie> Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or. Lines: 46 In article <40513@vax1.tcd.ie>, rwallace@vax1.tcd.ie writes: > > A Sega arcade machine pushed to its limits could probably outperform an Amiga > pushed to its limits (even without the copper and sprites), though of course > if you had a 68020 running in 32-bit RAM at the same time as the blitter was > working it would be a different story ... this would still cost less than a > Sega. My point is that both systems are capable of far more than they've ever > been used for. I take it you never done any of the kind of programming that you are talking about, because you are 100% out to lunch. You see if the way the Amiga is designed you can't use 68020 whatever to enhance the blitter performance for by even 1%. Besides there are a great many things that can't be done with just the blitter. In fact if the 68020 is making the graphics, there is most likely little that can be done with the blitter. (The above all relate to high resolution graphics on the amiga and doesn't apply to 4 color low resolution graphics) The problem is the CHIP/Fast RAM partitions in the Amiga. The blitter can't use fast RAM, and the 68020 can't use chip RAM very quickly if the blitter is running. The only way around this problem is to run in low res. 4 color mode, then things work smoothly. However 4 color low res. is hardly pushing the limits. Maybe an Amiga 3000 might look like this: -------------- ****************** | Custom |--|--------| * * |------| | Chips | | Master |---* FAST 32bit RAM *----|Slave |--|.....| -------------- | MMU | * * | MMU | | CPU | ---------- ****************** |------| |.....| * Only one big pool of memory * Custom Chips or CPU only hog a page at a time, limiting CYCLE STEALING * No more out of chip ram problems * Opens the door to many great improvements: - .8 ucron CMOS blazing fast Custom Chips - faster, wider RAM - faster CPU's - one could be changed without the other. Anyway I think a lot of people are pushing the limits of the Amiga, and basic redesign could really help. Wayne Knapp